The North Country Defense Committee and the coalition Upstate People for Safe Energy Technology (UPSET) were the most prominent groups that opposed the implementation of the 765 kV power line by the New York State Power Authority.
A protestor blocking a dump truck from entering a 765 KV job site, March 1977.
Collection Overview
The North Country Defense Committee and the coalition Upstate People for Safe Energy Technology (UPSET) were the most prominent groups that opposed the implementation of the 765 kV power line by the New York State Power Authority. For a five-year period, between 1975 and 1980, these two groups and some 20 others fought the construction of a 150 mile high voltage power line in Northern New York State. In addition to the power line controversy, a priority of the NCDC was to inform the public of the possibility of the construction of a nuclear power plant in Upstate New York. Upstate People for Safe Energy Technology (UPSET) was established as a not-for-profit corporation under New York State Law in May 1976. UPSET, Inc. exists to gather and disseminate information to further understanding of the issues relating to safe energy technologies. Included in this collection are instructions how properly to protest through the use of a coalition, questionnaires given to local people affected by the line, scientific evidence of the effects of electromagnetic pollution on people, animals, and land, and legal papers pertaining to the issue. Also includes scrapbooks and maps/blueprints from Walter Reimer, President of UPSET.